Glorify by life
We glorify God just by doing His will
[Getting caught up on two weeks ago]
Once again, I return to a verse that I have referenced in previous devotionals. Repetition doesn’t offend me and it’s good for you (Philippians 3:1). I intend to hit the wisdom of this verse head-on rather than use it to confirm another verse. And once again, I find support for the proposition that worshiping God is a natural and normal function of human beings in general and His own believers more specifically. We don’t have to wait for Sunday to glorify God. He doesn’t require a lot of preparation on our side (confession, cleansing, clothing, chants, choirs, or calendars). He tells us to come to Him as children (Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16).
God isn’t impressed by ritual. He digs righteousness – spirit and truth rather than windy words and pretentious protocol.
God is glorified by human activities
God despises sin. He gains no glory directly from sinners by what they do contrary to His will and His character. He can derive some glory by the contrast between the evil of sinners and the good of His holiness, but He much prefers that they repent rather than continue to rebel against Him and cause more problems in His creation by their sinful actions.
When people are acting as He designed, God gains glory from His creation. This glory doesn’t turn on the morality of their actions. God gains glory from humans (sinners or saint) simply when they reflect His creative genius. Humanity reflects His glory when we procreate others of our kind as God designed us to do and commanded Adam (and Noah) to continue. We demonstrate God’s intellect when we learn, choose and think. We reflect His heart when we experience emotions. We imitate His creativity when we discover and create. All these things bring credit to our author as well as defining our own individuality.
This may sound hard to accept if you assume I’m praising man’s rebellion against God and continual sin against His kingdom’s goals. Trust me, I’m not teaching favorably of sin. I realize that our mere existence says something positive about God (as well as the negative things our sin says about us).
Obviously, God derives more glory when humans act in accordance with God’s holiness rather than follow the devil. He much prefers that sinners repent and accept His gospel message which is our salvation by His Son Jesus Christ. However, my point for this entire unit of devotionals focuses on the size and scope of our actions rather than our motives or hearts’ intentions.
Most Christians lose sight of God’s glory when they begin to factor God’s will into their evaluation of worship. Some teach, “God cannot derive glory when we are even slightly askew of His perfect will.” This becomes a backdoor acceptance of legalism. Christians condemn worship when it doesn’t align with their narrow view of God’s will (based on music style, appearance of the music team, etc.).
God derives glory from the little things of life as well as the cosmic results of His epic plans. His glory doesn’t require a rigid application to a set of rules. We can glorify Him with simple actions.
God is glorified by Christian activities
For the rest of this unit, let’s focus more closely on ways that God derives glory from His people (rather than humanity as a whole). For this devotional, we will concentrate on when God we act within His guidelines by our own choices. Naturally, I’m speaking about actions that avoid sin, but I want to avoid falling into the traps of legalism. For now, I simply assume the verse addresses Christians are walking in the spirit and choosing their actions in spirit and truth.
If we follow God’s basic commands, we can glorify God in whatever we do:
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31, NASB)
God’s glory doesn’t depend on some earthshaking fulfillment or cosmic plan. It can come from simple, everyday activities that we perform just to maintain ourselves. Even the lowly work of a slave can be done for the Lord (Ephesians 6:5-7) and according to God’s will.
Thus everything we do can glorify God. That includes chores around the house which keep the place welcoming to visitors and functional for the family. It includes things we do at work (or school) to develop a good reputation as one of God’s people. It includes the service we render to God’s kingdom in our church (from the nursery worker to the praise team’s soloist, from the A/V technician to the pastor). Everything we do can glorify God.
For this reason, we can use His glory to guide our actions and motivations. That means we act in humility in hopes that our work will glorify Him. We don’t want to distract from His glory by taking credit for ourselves. When His glory spurs our choices and actions, we work to enlarge His kingdom rather than our own.
Don’t presume that you are glorifying God more when standing on the stage under the blaze of the spotlight. That’s your glory, not God’s. He can get glory from the janitor cleaning the toilets, so He doesn’t need your solo. Besides, He already has the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders and all the choirs of heaven to praise Him. He doesn’t need you to fill up the gap in their worship.
God is glorified by Christian freedom
The larger context of this verse applies to Christian freedom. The previous chapters (from 1 Corinthians 5 to 11) address three balances of our different aspects of our freedom against other demands. The first balance compares our freedom from the Law to God’s desire for us to avoid sin. The second balance weighs one’s freedom to that of another Christian. The third balance examines how our reputation (among the unsaved) may be impacted (for the better or worse) by our use of our own freedom. God gives us freedom, but desires that we show wisdom about how and when we utilize it.
As Paul concludes a discussion about eating meat sacrificed to idols, he reminds his readers that what ever choice they make, they should do so to glorify God rather than gratify themselves or put others down. If they work within the boundaries that he establishes, it doesn’t matter which choice they ultimately make. Just as long as they don’t offend God by thinking that their eating condones demon worship, they do well. Just as long as they don’t offend others (by eating in front of someone who thinks that eating condones idolatry or by forcing their prohibition onto others as more righteous) they do well. Just as long as the world understands that Christians don’t believe idols have any power (beyond what our imaginations do to us), they do well. Either choice brings glory to God.
Our freedom glorifies God rather than limits His glory. That may seem counter-intuitive to a believer raised in legalism, but it comes from God’s word, not mine, and not from the minds of those who preach rules and regulations to Christians whom Christ set free.
Christian freedom means that God trusts His people to make the right decisions. His trust doesn’t ensure our compliance, but God refuses to force us into salvation (before accepting His Son) or obedience to His holiness (after accepting His Son). We are just as free as Christians as we were before claiming Jesus as our Savior and Lord. In fact, we are even more free because we now have the power of Christ’s resurrection working in our hearts to refuse enslavement to sin any longer (Romans 6).
Christianity gives us an additional choice. We can even choose to enslave ourselves to God and His righteousness (which Paul recommends). Don’t think of this “slavery” through the lens of human enslavement. The “slaves” of God remain free to set their own schedules, marry whom they choose, pursue a career which suits their talents and desires, etc. God can work within our choices to bring about His desired outcome in our lives. We cannot expect to fulfill all of our desires God’s slaves, but He largely allows us to make our daily choices. The Holy Spirit guides us when we are approaching a critical issue that God desires us to make a certain choice.
How does Christian freedom work? The Holy Spirit guides our choices to teach us what to do. The fruit of the spirit is self-control, not self-assertiveness or God’s control. The Holy Spirit brings balance to our lives that enhances our freedom, not restrict it. Our choices may restrict our ability to serve God’s kingdom in certain positions. Don’t worry about that outcome since God doesn’t grade us based on our position in the kingdom, but our obedience to His will despite our station.
How does Christian freedom bring glory to God? We do what God wants without being forced to comply by God. We do this, not because we are perfect, but despite the continued presence of sin in our hearts. We do this, not because we shut ourselves off from temptation, but despite the clamor of temptation all around us. God gets no glory from preventing perfect people from sinning. His power shines through when imperfect people surrender to His will rather than their own desires. That salvation demonstrates the power of the gospel without requiring perfection from every believer. We demonstrate our faith a little here and a little there.
How does legalism defeat God’s plan? It forces compliance through guilt, shame, and man-made rules. Christ died to free us from all these things, so legalism actually acts against the salvation of Christ. It doesn’t promote His work. It also attempts to override the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
Overall, we can see how God is glorified by life. We return to the purpose He intended by our creation, birth and rebirth. He doesn’t need us parting the Red Sea every day of our lives. Just eating the manna is sufficient to demonstrates God’s mercy, provision and salvation. That glorifies God.